In 1978 Sid was ordained to the ministry of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church serving our Finaghy congregation for nine years. God used Sid and Jean (a nurse/midwife) to start the pro–life movement LIFE (NI). In 1987, responding to God’s call, they went with Qua Iboe Fellowship (now Mission Africa) to Nigeria with their three young children.

Sid taught first in Samuel Bill Theological College, Abak, and then at the Theological College of Northern Nigeria, becoming Deputy Provost in 1991. He was awarded his doctorate in missions six years later. Hundreds of his former students are now in churches, schools, and Bible colleges across Nigeria.

Sid became involved in establishing a strategic ministry known as Africa Christian Textbooks (ACTS) supplying and publishing relevant and affordable evangelical books to church leaders across Africa. ACTS distributes books through twelve book shops in key seminaries or cities across Nigeria and Kenya.

After some years in primary health care, Jean helped a number of organisations and churches pioneer their response to AIDS. To assist with training teachers and counsellors, Jean has written various AIDS educational resources. AIDS is Real and It’s in Our Church has 80,000 copies in print.

Jean has now been trained as one of the facilitators to run Kairos for students, churches, and other interested groups. Mission Agencies Partnership (MAP), an umbrella body for the mission sending agencies in N. Ireland, and IMAP, the equivalent body in the Republic of Ireland, are partnering in making Kairos available.